Requested by Matriw

Description: Chibs notices when you deny your struggles with anxiety in a conversation with Jax.

I sat at the desk in the office tapping my toes and chewing on my bottom lip. My older brother, Tig, had a hearing this afternoon that was supposed to get him released today. He'd been picked up for driving on a suspended license again, so the lovely Sheriff Roosevelt threw him in county about a week ago. Rosen was sure Tig would get out it was just worrying me.

That and TM wasn't doing so well. After the explosion on the lot and having to rebuild and reopen we haven't been doing as well as we did before. I was balancing the books and trying to figure out how all of the club guys were gonna get paid if the mechanics were to get paid too.

"Hey, I'm going to the courthouse. Pick up Tig. You wanna ride along?" Jax asked.

"I can't," I said, flipping through the pages and clearing the calculator a few too many times before repunching in the numbers. They weren't going to work out. I knew it.

"Hey is everything okay?" Jax asked. I didn't even look up at him as I nodded and vocalized that I was fine.

"Are you sure? You never miss an opportunity to pick Tig up and give him a lecture all the way back," Jax said.

"Yeah, just trying to figure out this payroll shit," I said, forcing a slight smile onto my face so that he would believe me.

"You'll be our first stop then," Jax said. I nodded and he took off.

I'd had about thirty seconds of relative quiet as I punched numbers into the calculator before the doors to the office were shut and a hand came down on mine, pausing it in its motions on the calculator.

"You're not okay," Chibs said. I dropped the pencil from my freehand and ran the hand through my hair.

"What was your first hint?" I asked sarcastically. He glared down at me a little but I didn't pay attention to it as I shook his hand off of mine and started looking at the payroll again.

"I'm gonna have Bobby come do that for ya lass," he said. He was sitting on the edge of the desk and watching me carefully.

"I've almost got it figured out," I said. "If Jax and I just take pay cuts this week everyone else can get paid. Not ideal but he's the owner and I, well I'll just bug my big brother for money if I need to."

"You're talking nonsense," he said.

"No, it's fine right," I said. "Cause Tig's out so I don't need to worry about him so that just leaves this problem and that's how I solve it. Of course, I'll have to talk to Jax, because I don't know if he can aff-."

"Lass, stop," he interrupted me. I shut up quickly and looked up at him. "Come with me."

I stood up and followed him out of the office.

"Bobby, go look at the payroll on the desk," Chibs said as we walked past Bobby and a couple prospects.

"What are we doing?" I asked as Chibs just continued to lead me to the dorm room.

"Sit," he said, going to the desk and opening a few drawers before finding what he needed. He handed me the joint he'd rolled and a lighter.

"I don't need this," I said, giving it back to him.

"Are you taking the meds like the doctors told ya to?"

I nodded as he took a few drags off the joint before handing it to me. I took a hit and allowed myself to relax. "The meds are killing my brain. I'm constantly tired, so I have too much caffeine in me. That just makes it worse."

"You thought about legal use of marijuana?"

"No," I shook my head. He reached over and took the joint from my hand.

"You should. Hear it's good for anxiety," he said, offering the joint to me again.

"Shits more expensive that way," I said. I took one more hit before giving him the remainder of the joint.

He nodded and we sat in silence as he finished smoking the joint. When he was finished he pulled me up to his chest and wrapped his arms around me.

"You know we're here for ya. There's no need to lie to us," he said.

"I know Chibs," I said. He just nodded before he took my hand and led me back out of the room to where my brother was waiting for us in the parking lot.